DAY 221 – WITHOUT CHRIST -------------------------------------- “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 The word of God is full of meaning. The Bible is exceedingly sententious. People multiply words to express their meaning, but the LORD is amazingly concise. It seems as if he writes in shorthand (summary form) and gives us a lot in fewer words. Many books have been written, but few are as precious as silver. But God’s Book is priceless in every page. The worth of its sentences is impossible to determine by human intellect. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.” Here we have two great truths: the believer’s position –he is “in Christ,” and the believer’s character – he is a “new creature.” There are three stages of the human soul in connection with Christ. The first stage is “without Christ,” and this is the state of nature. The next stage is “in Christ,” and this is the state of grace. The third is “with Christ,” and this is the state of glory. Without Christ, this is where we are all born and nurtured, and even though we hear the gospel, and the Bible is in all our homes, and even though we use a form of prayer – but until we are born again, we are without God, without Christ and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. A person may be without food, though he stands at the feasting table –unless he reaches out with his hands and receives what is being provided. A person may hear Christ being preached every Sabbath/Sunday, and still be without Christ – unless he reaches out with his hands of faith and receives Christ. To be without Christ is a most unhappy condition. It is an inconvenient to be without gold, it is miserable and uncomfortable to be without health, it is shameful to be without a friend, it is despicable to be without reputation – but to be without Christ is the worst lack of all. May the LORD help those who now in that state –may they no longer be in that position of being without Christ. The next state is that indicated in the verse, “in Christ,” and I will say a lot more on this as we go along and in the next few days. “In Christ” leads to the third state, which we can never reach without this second one. To be with Christ is the angels’ joy, it is the heaven of heavens, it is the centre of bliss, the sun of paradise. Let us all seek after it, and in order to have it, let us strive with all our heart and mind to be in Christ now, that we may be in Christ in the day he appears. I have never heard of any person being in another person, except be in Christ. We may follow certain leaders, political or religious, but we are never said to be included in them. We interpret being “in Christ” using the word. We were all in the first Adam. Adam stood for us. Had Adam kept the command, we would have all been blessed. He ate the forbidden fruit and fell, and we all fell in him. Origin sin falls on us because of the transgression of our covenant head and representative, Adam the first. But all believers are in the same sense in Christ, Adam the second, the only representative Man before God, the heavenly Man, the LORD from heaven. Now, as in Adam we all fell, so all who are in Christ are in Christ perfectly restored. The obedience of Christ is the obedience of all his people. The atonement of Christ is a propitiation for all his people’s sins. In Christ we lived on earth, in Christ we died, in Christ we rose, and he has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places. Faith captures and apprehends that blessed truth – and therefore by faith we are in Christ Jesus. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature.”
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 21:50:35 +0000